Noshing on Potatoes with The Nutrition Twins

Guest bloggers, The Nutrition Twins® Tammy Lakatos, RD, CDN, CFT and Lyssie Lakatos, RD, CDN, CFT are the authors of The Secret To Skinny: How Salt Makes You Fat and The 4-Week Plan to Drop a Size & Get Healthier with Simple Low-Sodium Swaps (HCI, Fall 2009) and Fire Up Your Metabolism: 9 Proven Principles for Burning Fat and Losing Weight Forever. You can visit the Nutrition Twins website for more information on this dynamic duo.

For years we’ve been witnessing our clients who include one medium sized (5.3- ounce) skin-on, baked potato in their regular meal plan feel more satisfied and meet their weight loss goals while doing so. As registered dietitians, we aren’t surprised that potatoes can be helpful in weight loss. After all, besides witnessing the weight loss results in our clients (who are thrilled to be told they can eat potatoes and lose weight!) there is a lot to love about spuds:

One medium-size (5.3 ounce) potato has just 110 calories and is fat-, sodium- and cholesterol-free.

Potatoes are nutrient-dense, meaning you receive many nutrients for the amount of calories they have.

Bite for bite potatoes are one of the foods that promote the most satiety but with the least amount of calories.

On a fullness rating scale called the “satiety index” (SI) the highest SI score was produced by potatoes, which was more than three times the SI of white bread. Other foods ranking high in satiety after potatoes were fish, oat porridge, oranges, apples, wheat pasta, steak and baked beans.

You say POTAto, we say POTAssium. That’s because one medium-size (5.3 ounce) skin-on potato contains 620 mg of potassium; that’s more potassium than a banana to help reduce blood pressure and conquer stress

Potatoes are an excellent source of vitamin C, providing nearly half (45 percent) of the recommended Daily Value so they can help boost your immune system to help fight off colds and flu.

There’s more! We’ve been working with the United States Potato Board (USPB) on an easy-to-enter Twice Baked, Twice as Smart recipe photo contest, which we’ll be judging! Simply submit a photo of your best, most mouth-watering, original twice baked potato creation for a chance to win a $500 VISA gift card and a signed copy of our book, “The Secret to Skinny”! You can enter on our Facebook page by clicking the “Photo Contest” tab, or by visiting the USPB’s Facebook page, Potatoes, Taters and Spuds. Entries will be accepted until March 7th.

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